| | Cumberlands University seeing 'the Lord's work' at worship event | | Curated for you byCP Editors | | Good afternoon! It's Friday, February 17, and today's headlines include The University of the Cumberlands experiencing spontaneous worship and prayer services, lawmakers calling out the FBI's Richmond office memo warning of "radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology," the National Archives apologizing after visitors were told they must conceal their pro-life attire, and Bear Grylls taking to social media to declare that Jesus is "totally non-religious." | | Students at The University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Ky., have been engaged in a continuous prayer and worship service that began on Monday in response to the revival event at Asbury University. Cumberlands Campus Minister Jacob Ratliff told CP that while he "would hesitate to call it a revival at this point," he nevertheless said he was "seeing significant evidence of the Lord's work at UC." Ratliff explained that several students who attended Asbury's recent gatherings came back to their university to organize a Monday night worship service. Approximately 400 students and community members were in attendance, with multiple informal prayer meetings and worship gatherings being held since then. Between 10 and 15 students "have been rotating times of intentional prayer in the chapel over the last few days," and another impromptu service on Tuesday saw approximately 75 people in attendance. "We have consistently been meeting with students to counsel, pray and glorify God through our responses to His movement on campus. We have provided open opportunities and been present in the Chapel to help facilitate worship and spiritual counseling," he said. | | Asbury University became the center of a revival event last week following the conclusion of a regularly scheduled chapel service. The event has been ongoing, with Alexandra Presta, a senior at Asbury, telling CP, "It's been a mix of worship, testimony, prayer, confession, silence ... a full experience of the Holy Spirit." The impromptu prayer and worship came almost 53 years to the day that a similar outbreak of worship and prayer occurred at Asbury back in 1970, which spread to other campuses and communities. Continue reading. | | P.S.Get rewarded for sharing our newsletters! Sign-up for the CP referral program—the more you share, the more you earn. Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to get started today! |
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| Lawmakers question FBI memo warning about 'radical' Catholics | | Congressional Republicans are demanding answers after the FBI's Richmond office circulated a document classifying "radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology" as a potential national security threat. Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Mike Johnson, R-La., wrote a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray Thursday describing the "FBI's targeting of a set of Catholic Americans for their religious beliefs" as the latest example of a "serious misuse of federal law enforcement resources" for "apparent political purposes." Jordan serves as the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, while Johnson is the chair of the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government. Jordan and Johnson called out the document's use of "biased and partisan sources," including the Southern Poverty Law Center, a far-left advocacy group, arguing that the SPLC "maligns several mainstream conservative and religious organizations as 'hate' groups, simply because the SPLC disagrees with their views." After a former FBI agent criticized the FBI Richmond office's report, the FBI headquarters issued a statement acknowledging that the report "does not meet the exacting standards of the FBI" and had the document withdrawn. Jordan and Johnson maintain that "there remain many questions about the genesis, review, and approval of this document, as well as the FBI's commitment to upholding First Amendment-protected activity." Read more. | | National Archives apologizes for requiring visitors to conceal pro-life attire | | The National Archives Museum in Washington, D.C., has apologized and agreed to provide a personal tour to a pair of visitors who sued the federal records agency last week after being told to cover up their pro-life attire when visiting on the morning of the March for Life. The plaintiffs stated they visited the museum on Jan. 20 with their daughters and more than 30 members of their Catholic school class. The lawsuit claims security officers "chilled their religious speech" by "requiring plaintiffs to remove or cover their attire because of their pro-life messages." The attire included hats, buttons, and other items with messages such as "Life is a Human Right" and "Life Always Wins." According to court papers filed Tuesday, the museum promised the plaintiffs a personal tour and "a personal apology on that tour regarding the events." Read more. | | Attorneys: Georgia police officer forced to quit over Christian beliefs | | Attorneys representing Port Wentworth Police Officer Jacob Kersey in Georgia say he was forced out of his job because he expressed his Christian beliefs on social media. Kersey resigned last month after being told by his supervisors that he could be terminated for sharing his religious views on marriage. The 19-year-old officer was placed on paid administrative leave following his refusal to take down a Facebook post from two days earlier in which he paraphrased the Apostle Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus. "God designed marriage. Marriage refers to Christ and the church. That's why there is no such thing as homosexual marriage," he wrote. First Liberty Institute, which is representing Kersey, says he was given a letter of notification cautioning that he could be fired if he posted any more "offensive" content on social media. According to the attorneys, further meetings with leadership made the officer realize that he faced a choice between compromising his deeply held religious beliefs or continuing as a police officer with the department. He resigned on Jan. 17. Read more. | | Pastor charged for allegedly texting minor about ‘wanting to smell her underwear’ | | Fred McCoy Gammon Jr., who leads Wayside Assembly of God in Wyandotte, Okla., is accused of sending several sexually suggestive text messages to a minor, including an alleged desire to "smell her underwear." Gammon, who has been charged with child sexual abuse, is now free on $35,000 bail, per KSN. The pastor insists that he is innocent, with his criminal defense lawyer, Jeremy Bennett, telling CP, "All I can tell you is that Mr. Gammon maintains his innocence and he's not going to make any comments and I can't make any comments while there's pending litigation." An affidavit of probable cause filed in the Ottawa County District Court alleges that Gammon sent sexually suggestive and inappropriate text messages from his cell phone to the minor, allegedly texting her statements such as "You are hot" and "Oh, I mean it, you are like a fire to me." Gammon's wife, Tonya, also allegedly told investigators that the pastor told her that "he was being convicted by God and he needed to let her know that he saw (the juvenile victim) in a different light now and he hopes she can forgive him as a wife." Read more. |
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| Churches are getting less of total charitable giving. Here’s why. | | Despite a rise in charitable giving in the U.S., churches are receiving a smaller portion of that giving due to a lack of trust, writes Church Answers' Sam Rainer. In this op-ed, Rainer outlines six ways believers can help build trust in their churches to help improve giving. Among his recommendations: print regular financial statements for church members, explain the financials to your staff, and pray through your budget process while calling on your members to do the same. Read more. | | Silencing free speech for the 'greater good' | | In this editorial, the Providence Forum's Jerry Newcombe sheds light on the left's attacks on free speech, including President Biden's former press secretary Jen Psaki urging MSNBC viewers to "think of the danger" posed by free speech and Newsmax going dark on DIRECTV. Pointing to a Washington Examiner report on the secret push by the left to de-platform conservative voices in the media under the guise of fighting so-called "disinformation," Newcombe warns, "Once we have lost the true value of free speech—even for speech we find abhorrent—we have put the logical mechanism in place for propaganda to rule the day and dissenting speech to be punished. That punishment may begin as a mere economic penalty—but it rarely stops there. ... We need to stand up against those who claim to believe in 'free speech,' but in reality, they hold to 'Free speech for me, but not for thee.'" Read more. |
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| The power to choose in a child’s hands | | Instead of you choosing from hundreds of pictures of children who need sponsors, your picture goes to the kids, and one of them will choose you. And in doing so, people like Shanda are experiencing God’s goodness through the simple act of a child. | | Shanda and her family said yes to sponsoring a child with World Vision while attending Soul City Church in Chicago. "We believe it's a part of our mission as believers in Christ," says Shanda about helping others. Their photo was taken, then sent to Mwala, Kenya, along with photos of hundreds of other Soul City congregants, to be displayed at a large community event. | | In Mwala, a rural community of 40,000 people two hours east of Nairobi, Kenya, the freedom to choose is an unfamiliar luxury for children like 9-year-old Junior. Learn more | | |
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| Emerging trends shaping the future of global Evangelical missions (pt. 1) | | In part one of this multi-part series, CP takes a look at the emergence of local leaders in the mission field. Two emerging trends in global missions stood out as nearly 15 dozen mission leaders from across the globe gathered for a consultation earlier this month in Thailand: more local leaders and more females serving in the mission field. The World Evangelical Alliance's Mission Commission (WEA MC) saw 172 missions leaders come together in Chiang Mai to discuss "Our Missions Future" from Jan. 30 to Feb. 3. The 15th Global Consultation (GC23) was the first in-person gathering post-pandemic, drawing leaders of international and national missions agencies and networks from 33 different countries. Dr. Jay Mātenga, executive director of the WEA MC, stated, "Local believers have taken responsibility for spreading the Gospel in indigenous forms and whole-of-life ways ... And the Gospel is spreading rapidly in places previously thought to be resistant because of these localized and holistic expressions of faith in Jesus." Read more. | | Progressive rabbi to PCUSA: Don't call Israel an 'apartheid' state | | During a Zoom interview with the Rev. Denise Anderson of the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s Compassion, Peace and Justice ministries "Antisemitism, Israel-Palestine and the Church: A Conversation" event, Rabbi Alana Suskin warned the denomination to "avoid" using the word "apartheid" to describe Israel in response to PCUSA passing a resolution labeling the Middle Eastern nation an apartheid state months earlier. Suskin is the co-director of Pomegranate Initiative, an interfaith advocacy group, and co-chair of the Maryland chapter of the left-leaning religious organization the Poor People’s Campaign. When Anderson asked Suskin's opinion on the largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S. labeling Israel an apartheid state, Suskin stated that "evidence-based criticism" of Israel is a preferred tactic to using the word "apartheid" to label the country and advised listeners to "avoid the term and talk about the data." Maintaining that such language is "unhelpful," the rabbi added, "I don't think it moves the discussion forward. If you say, 'Israel is an apartheid state,' the reaction from Israelis and most Jews is 'you’re attacking me.' How does that fix the problem?" Read more. |
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| Bear Grylls says Jesus is ‘totally non-religious' | | TV host and author Bear Grylls, who describes himself as an unconventional Christian, recently told his 5.6 million Instagram followers that Jesus was "a wild one ... totally non-religious, 100% free, fun, loving & insanely generous and kind." The caption accompanied an image of Jesus taking a selfie. Grylls said during an interview with CP last month that he believes Jesus "would really struggle with 99% of churches nowadays," asserting, "Our job in life is to stay close to Christ and drop the religious, drop the fluff, drop the church if you need to because that means so many different things to different people anyway." Read more. | | Damar Hamlin expresses regret over jacket | | Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin took to Twitter to address the controversial Jesus jacket he wore to Super Bowl LVII, explaining, "After talking with my parents I understand how my coat could have offended some people. It was never my intention to hurt or disrespect anyone, the coat is abstract art to me. It says Eternal which I am Eternally thankful to my Savior!" Many Christians criticized the Eternal Saint embroidered unisex bomber varsity jacket, including retired NFL star running back Adrian Peterson, who labeled the piece of clothing blasphemous and "disrespectful." Hamlin said his beliefs and relationship with God are "not tied to symbolic images," explaining in a follow-up post that he will "learn from this and continue to walk in Love as I ALWAYS have." Read more. | | | | | | | | Thank you for spending part of your day with us. We look forward to seeing you again on Monday! -- CP Editors |
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